Finger Lakes museum a step closer

Julie Sherwood, staff writer

Friday

Jun 26, 2009 at 12:01 AMJun 26, 2009 at 12:39 AM

Fifteen proposed sites will be narrowed to one by year’s end, museum planners say.

The inspiration came one day as John Adamski daydreamed in the shower after a visit to the Adirondacks. On Thursday, about 100 people concerned with promoting and preserving the Finger Lakes region gathered at the New York Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua to share in the dream that came from that inspiration: A museum showcasing the cultural heritage and natural history of the 9,000-square-mile Finger Lakes region.

The museum — projected to cost between $40 million and $50 million — will be on one of 15 proposed sites, which were announced at last night. Four potential locations are in Yates County; three are in Seneca County.

“The first question people ask is, ‘Where is it?’” said Don Naetzker of Pittsford. Naetzker heads the project’s site-selection committee and serves on its Board of Trustees, led by Adamski, of Dansville, Livingston County.

The goal is to have the 15 proposed sites narrowed to one by the end of the year.

Locations were solicited from all 14 counties in the region. Six counties responded; Ontario County was not among them.

The site-selection committee will review the proposals and narrow them to five finalists.
Proponents for these five will then submit a more formal proposal, with the site-selection committee or an independent consultant recommending one site to the Board of Trustees. If all goes according to plan, engineering and architectural work will be completed by the end of 2011, with bids for construction awarded in 2012. Building will begin in 2013, with doors opening in 2014.

The location must meet a demanding set of criteria. It must be a site of 50 to 200 acres, have sufficient water to supply a major aquarium and other water-related exhibits, and allow for on-site wastewater and storm water treatment. It should have lake access and/or lake views, open fields, a native hardwood forest, the presence of wildlife unique to the region, be adjacent to public or undeveloped land, and have easy access to a major highway.

Valerie Knoblauch, head of Ontario County’s tourism bureau and president of Finger Lakes Visitors Connection, said last week Ontario County doesn’t have a site that fits all the criteria, though she supports the project.

The museum will include a freshwater aquarium shaped like a typical Finger Lake and housing native fish species, an interactive display showing the 11 Finger Lakes being formed by a melting glacier, exhibits examining Native American and Mennonite cultures, and a variety of other exhibits.

“It is a wonderful vision,” said Andrew Zepp, executive director of Finger Lakes Land Trust.
He said the educational value of the museum will further the mission of preserving the region’s natural character.

“People don’t want to protect what they don’t understand,” he said.

Jim Howe, regional director for the Nature Conservancy, agreed, saying the conservancy is “willing to do everything we can to get this thing started.”

The project, with its 40,000-square-foot museum and adjacent features, was recently awarded a museum charter by the state Education Department, which allows the formation of a not-for-profit corporation and a fundraising campaign.

Fundraising has already begun, with donations being accepted through the project’s Web site, www.FingerLakesMuseum.org, as well as through purchase of items such as photos by Bill Banaszewski, a museum board member and retired Finger Lakes Community College professor.

“Raising forty to fifty million seems like a daunting task,” George Slocum of Houston, who has family ties to the Finger Lakes region, told those gathered Thursday evening. “But for a project this good — no problem.”

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